"Clutch"

[jj22]

Define clutch as it relates to QB'ing......

[KillerGoose]

I think of it as making plays when the team needs it most. Team needs some points to tie it up or win? QB makes plays to get them there. Game is starting to get out of hand and needs an offensive response to keep them in the game? QB figures it out and gets it done. Defense is being thrashed and the offense needs to win a shootout? QB keeps them afloat by making plays.

It's a spectrum and can be hard to explain perfectly, but in short it is a QB making valuable plays when the team needs them, else they are going to lose. I think a QB can be clutch and still lose, like the famous Bills/Chiefs game where Josh Allen threw the go-ahead TD with <20 seconds left only to be bested by Mahomes. That was a clutch game by Allen, Mahomes just one upped him.

[*Awful Llama*]

The first thing that came to mind?

Cleveland Municipal Stadium, January 11, 1987, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.  Cleveland 20, Denver 13, with 5:32 left in the game.  Denver, on it's own 2 yard line, with 98 yards of frozen, painted dirt in front of them and surrounded by a stadium of battery-throwing, barking assholes.

One man says:  I got this.

[Frank Booth]

Well, in the playoff games where the defense keeps the offense in the game, Burrow certainly has a knack of getting the ball down field to get into McPherson range when time is running out

[*bfine32*]

[TecmoBengals]

(10-17-2023, 05:39 PM)bfine32 Wrote:

Beat me to it. This sums up my answer.

[jj22]

There was a comment recently that clutch isn't just defined by the 4th quarter. Thoughts?

[KillerGoose]

(10-17-2023, 06:07 PM)jj22 Wrote: There was a comment recently that clutch isn't just defined by the 4th quarter. Thoughts?

I would agree. Big moments can happen throughout the game. There are absolutely times where you need your QB to step up and make something happen in the second or third quarter. For instance, in the big regular season KC/CIN game from 2021, the game was 21-7 early in the second quarter. We needed a response or the game was going to be getting out of hand. There were people on this board saying the game was already over, the Bengals were a fraud, KC is just way better etc. etc. 

Burrow responds by going 5-6 for 60 yards and a TD to cut it to 21-14. And you know what the Chiefs did afterwards? Scored again to make it 28-14. If the Bengals would have punted on that drive and gone down 28-7, that's a massive difference. I would have been thinking game over at that point. However, Burrow and the offense stepped up when they needed to and made it happen. That is clutch play in my eyes. 

[Bengalitis]

There's gotta be someone out there who named their kid "Clutch"....lol

[TheFan]

(10-17-2023, 06:07 PM)jj22 Wrote: There was a comment recently that clutch isn't just defined by the 4th quarter. Thoughts?

I disagree. I think there are big important plays that happen throughout the first 3 quarters but I don't consider them clutch plays for a player. Like the difference between regular season/1pm kickoff Andy Dalton (1st 3 quarters) and Primetime/Playoff Dalton (4th quarter). The games count the same and are important but there's a much different tightness and importance when the game is on a bigger stage/on the line. 

To me clutch is making the plays when the actual game is at stake if you fail, which doesn't happen until the 4th quarter (in the overwhelming majority of cases)

[TecmoBengals]

(10-17-2023, 07:08 PM)Bengalitis Wrote: There's gotta be someone out there who named their kid "Clutch"....lol

Clutch McGee has a nice ring to it.

[jj22]

5+ drives to close games (AFCC), 6+ drives to close games (SB), 7 drives (this last game) to close games. No points, no FG, mostly 3 and outs....

Do you still consider Burrow clutch?

or has he lost that title given his struggles to get the offense going when games have been on the line the last couple years.

There is the argument on social media that it has been our Defense that has been clutch, and Burrow and the Offense has failed more often then not the last couple years in the 4th quarter in close games.

[jj22]

I think this is a key question because not once did I have faith the Offense would pull through against Seattle late when it felt like the game was slipping. I felt it had to be the Defense that saved the game.

This is a feeling I didn't have when we drafted Burrow or even the first 2 years of his career. I always felt if he had the ball to end the game, we had a shot.

Do you guys still feel that way?

[007BengalsFan]

(10-18-2023, 11:40 AM)jj22 Wrote: I think this is a key question because not once did I have faith the Offense would pull through against Seattle late when it felt like the game was slipping. I felt it had to be the Defense that saved the game...

It was the defense that saved the game.  If not for CTB getting the interception and putting the Bengals in field goal range the Bengals dont go ahead in the 4th.  When the offense got the ball after that INT, they didnt gain a single yard.  That was all CTB and McPherson getting the field goal to put the Bengals ahead.  Burrow did his disappearing act he does at times.  Even after the defense helped with the FG, they still had to play nearly flawless because the Bengals offense couldnt do anything.

[TheFan]

(10-18-2023, 11:32 AM)jj22 Wrote: 5+ drives to close games (AFCC), 6+ drives to close games (SB), 7 drives (this last game) to close games. No points, no FG, mostly 3 and outs....

Do you still consider Burrow clutch?

or has he lost that title given his struggles to get the offense going when games have been on the line the last couple years.

There is the argument on social media that it has been our Defense that has been clutch, and Burrow and the Offense has failed more often then not the last couple years in the 4th quarter in close games.

I don't think Burrow is clutch, personally. I think there are times where he has helped us get into FG range or score to win a game late. But overall I think he's failed a lot more than he has succeeded. 

[Frank Booth]

(10-18-2023, 01:55 PM)TheFan Wrote: I don't think Burrow is clutch, personally. I think there are times where he has helped us get into FG range or score to win a game late. But overall I think he's failed a lot more than he has succeeded. 

yea... that's pretty much what clutch is. And Burrow has done that exact thing multiple times throughout the playoffs

not to mention the time where he lead the team back against pittsburgh during the home opener last season, but was foiled when the back up long snapper kept flubbing the snaps. Multiple times

[*ochocincos*]

(10-17-2023, 03:58 PM)jj22 Wrote: Define clutch as it relates to QB'ing......

Taking the offense down the field and getting the lead in last few minutes of the game/half.
Not having turnovers late in close games.

[TheFan]

(10-18-2023, 02:09 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: yea... that's pretty much what clutch is. And Burrow has done that exact thing multiple times throughout the playoffs

not to mention the time where he lead the team back against pittsburgh during the home opener last season, but was foiled when the back up long snapper kept flubbing the snaps. Multiple times

Yes...he has done it at times like I said. But he has also failed at doing so a lot like the OP said. More often than not, at least late last year and so far this year, he seems to be unsuccessful. Obviously it's not all on him and partly because of the Oline, receivers, lack of run game, etc. But if he gets all the kudos for leading a drive he has to take the majority of the blame for failing too. 

[*Nately120*]

(10-17-2023, 06:07 PM)jj22 Wrote: There was a comment recently that clutch isn't just defined by the 4th quarter. Thoughts?

I guess that depends...if you are able to beat a team into the dust for the first 45 minutes of a game you don't have many opportunities to be clutch. 


The most humorously egregious thing I can think of that misconstrues this was that Roberto Aguayo kicker who totally flopped in the NFL.  He had a reputation for blowing it, but in one game he missed multiple FGs but his team still managed to hang in there and get him in position to make a kick to win the game.  He hits it, they win.

In the interview he says "I made the one that counted."  He thought what he said made sense...amazing.  That's one of my favorite stupid moments in sports.

(10-17-2023, 07:08 PM)Bengalitis Wrote: There's gotta be someone out there who named their kid "Clutch"....lol

Clutch Cargo's parents, come to mind.

[*rfaulk34*]

(10-17-2023, 06:07 PM)jj22 Wrote: There was a comment recently that clutch isn't just defined by the 4th quarter. Thoughts?

I agree to a point. Converting consistently on 3rd and 4th down could be considered clutch because the stakes are higher. 

As far as what you're alluding to, anyone that makes plays, again consistently, that help lead to a win. Whether it's driving a team down and throwing a TD to go ahead or leading a drive that ends in a GWFG, or even throwing one pass to a WR that directly leads to a GWFG. 

Consistency is the key. If you can contribute to a win, you can be called clutch.